Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot that can go in an oven, heat the olive oil in the pot over a medium flame. Add the garlic, chilis, and powdered spices (listed in the first ingredient set) and cook for a minute or two, stirring continuously until the garlic is softened. Add the potatoes, stir again, and then add the curry paste and/or your homemade curry mixture (second ingredient list), stirring again.

Add the coconut milk, yogurt, bay leaves, and bouillon cube and stir again, cooking for a couple of minutes until everything is well-blended and sauce starts to thicken.

In the pot, rest the chicken on top of the sauce and potato mixtures, so that the skin side is elevated out of the sauce. Season the top of the chicken (the skin) with black pepper and a little drizzle of olive oil.

Place in the oven and cook, uncovered, until the chicken skin is crispy and browned on top and the meat is cooked thoroughly. You can use a meat thermometer, but figure about 40 minutes. This will vary depending on the type of chicken pieces you use; less time for wings, longer for thighs and legs attached.

Garnish with sesame seeds and chopped cilantro. Serve with rice if you'd like.

I would love to try this recipe but I feel like the directions are not clear in a few steps and there is an error in the ingredient list.In step 1, it says to add the powdered spices with the chiles. Are these the spices for the paste if you are not using a prepared one? It also says to cook in olive oil until the garlic is softened but it doesn't say to add the garlic when you add the chiles and spices to the oil. Also, it says to add the curry paste with the potatoes. Again, is this if you are using the prepared paste? How many grams of potatoes? 2 potatoes is vague due to potatoes varying in size. If I do choose to use a curry paste that is store-bought, how much to use? "A packet" is also a vague amount as brands have different sizes and amounts. In the ingredients, it asks for "1/4 of curry powder or curry mix". A quarter teaspoon, a quarter cup? Please proofread everything again. This is not the first time I have seen these kinds of errors in a Food 52 recipe. It is frustrating because so many of the dishes look amazing in the photos, only to have so many errors in the instructions that I don't want to chance wasting expensive ingredients through unnecessary guesswork.

Hi Kim, The spices from the first ingredient list are the spices needed for the recipe. Secondly, you'll see "For the Curry Paste," as a second ingredient list. As explained, you can use this recipe to make a curry mixture, or you can simply buy a pre-made, low-sodium curry paste instead. I did forget the garlic, it's there now. Safe to assume that you could have added the garlic where it seems it would go. The great thing about curries and one-pot meals like this is that they're very forgiving. So you can take a liberal approach to this recipe and I'm sure it will still turn out great.

As for the curry paste with the potatoes, it can be either the pre-made curry mix, or the one that you made from scratch using the spices listed in the second list along with that splash of olive oil. Curry packets are always sold as 1.75 ounce packages, standard, similar to a can of vegetables or beans. Hopefully this clears things up for you, feel free to reach out with further questions.